AN outbreak of TB has been gathering pace in a Cork city national school since August.

ONE of the barbs that struck most deeply at our international reputation and self-image was the description of Ireland, by the New York Times, as the wild west of European finance.

DESPITE the best efforts of the Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly, Fianna Fáil deputies yesterday drew a line under what has been a controversial and divisive issue.

WHAT uplifting joy it is to wake to good news.

AS we’ve been preoccupied by economic collapse the terrible and regular warnings about the life-and-death challenges facing our planet seem to have slipped from the headlines.

ANYONE who heard Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, spokesman for the EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday morning got a glimpse of what our future might be like if we are not realistic about our public funding crisis.

IT’S been almost a year since parts of Cork City were very badly damaged by a flood that hit the city after water levels rose to dangerous, almost un-containable levels in the Lee Valley reservoirs.

THE sudden resignation of Philip Lynch, the Government-appointed chairman of the board of the new national children’s hospital, has thrown into sharp focus the ongoing controversy surrounding the choice of the Mater Hospital in the heart of Dublin as its proposed location.

WITH illegal drugs readily available in every city, town and village in the country, and legal drugs readily available over the counter, the decision to give gardaí new powers and training to crack down on drug driving is to be applauded.

The Cork-based charity for victims of institutional abuse, Right of Place, has been engaged in massive infighting to the extent that it is not serving the best interests of those for whom it was supposedly established.